22 Jun 2016.
We said goodbye to you.
It actually feels like I said goodbye to my 20s, goodbye to my youth, goodbye to a truckload of memories.
Natalie was my first ride, and I collected her just before Valentine’s Day 2007. I bought her right after I got my licence, and being rather young (and poor), it was a weekend car.
Then, Papa Long and I were getting closer as friends… shortly after, we got together.
So as a couple, with our little car, we went on many adventures together in the five years we dated. We went for dates to the beach, picnics, kite-flying, fishing (once), cafe hopping, cycling… having a car, even if it was “just a Korean car” made many things possible. We could get to ulu places, go for many prata supper sessions at railway mall… hang out without worrying when the last bus or train would run off. For a working couple who were busy chasing our careers, having a car for the nights and weekends were good. And it wasn’t as expensive as now.
Natalie was the pet taxi for our dear Old Pico when he was alive. I still remember how I couldn’t parallel park, but because he was bleeding from a dog attack, I zoomed to the vet and parallel parked in a blink without thinking much, because I was in such a rush to get him treated. Natalie was also the car that drove Pico out for his last outing to Bishan Park.
Having a car made road trips up north possible — Malacca, Port Dickson, Sunway Lagoon, and the furthest was Cameron Highland (so memorable!) Of course not forgetting the many supper trips to JB for Lok Lok which I always craved.
When we prepared to get married, the trusty car ferried us to get everything ready…. I still remember the numerous trips to the bridal studio.
When we were furnishing our little home, we drove up north to buy lights in the car, drove to industrial places to look at furnitures, went to Expo sale many times to see appliances. Every weekend, adventures begins when we hopped into the car.
And then when we prepared to have Little Foot…
Papa Long with Natalie in the background, carrying the first stroller we bought for Little Foot. I was 9 months pregnant.
I still remember how we stuffed the car to the brim to cart all the purchases at Mummy’s Market home from Expo. I was nearly 8 months pregnant.
All the things in the cot and the cot itself could fit into our car!
The day Little Foot arrived, we drove Natalie to KKH in the morning with a maxi cosi carseat in it ready for her.
And so, Little Foot took her first car ride ever in Natalie.
We converted the car to a black plate car and during my stint staying at home with Little Foot, I would drive her around – to playdates, to the PD, to KKH, to the Polyclinic, to Yu Guo for TCM massages… some days when I needed fresh air, I would drive out for a coffee or lunch with my mummy friends.
9 years and 5 months from the day I drove her for the first time, we said our goodbyes… I hear she would still be on the roads. In a way, I’m glad she isn’t going to the scrapyard, but I still feel sad she’s not mine anymore.
Today, we collected our new car. It’s flashier and with a lot more horsepower (TURBO WOR!) More importantly, with more space to accommodate a family. We are happy definitely (although that created a dent in Papa Long’s piggybank), but can’t help feeling like something is missing now that Natalie is gone.
The first is always the hardest to let go I guess.
Goodbye Natalie….Thanks for the memories. Without you, maybe I would never have been able to be a real driver. Without you, maybe this family would not be here.
May we meet again, my dear Natalie. It has been a great ride, hasn’t it?
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